Method and apparatus for control channel configuration in a heterogeneous network architecture

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems and apparatus are provided for camping, assisted serving cell addition or removal, and discontinuous reception (DRX) in networks having a macro cell and at least one assisted serving cell. In other aspects, enhancements to Layer 1 channels and uplink timing alignments are provided in networks having a macro cell and at least one assisted serving cell. In further aspects, assisted serving cell Layer 2 architecture and transport channels are provided in networks having a macro cell and at least one assisted serving cell. In further aspects, collaborated HARQ solutions are provided in networks having a macro cell and at least one assisted serving cell.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to small cells operating in conjunctionwith a macro cell, and in particular relates to initial access, idlemode procedures, Layer 1 control channel aspects, Layer 2/3 aspects andhybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) procedures for a user equipment(UE) connected simultaneously to a plurality of serving cells.

BACKGROUND

A heterogeneous network may include a high power node with one or morelow power nodes co-existing with the high power node. Low power nodesform small cells such as pico cells, femto cells and relay cells whilehigh power nodes form macro cells, which in general have a much largercell coverage than the small cells.

In order to improve capacity and cell edge performance of the macrocells, low power nodes may be introduced within the macro cell to formthe small cells. In some scenarios, the density of the small cells maybe quite high. In this scenario, mobility and associated overhead couldbecome a concern for a UE, especially for users with medium to highmobility. For example, user equipment (UE) travelling quickly mayexperience frequent handovers when moving across the small cells.Specifically, as the UE moves closer to a small cell, handoverconditions indicate to the UE that the UE should handover to that smallcell. However, when the small cell has a small coverage, fast changingradio conditions exist at the small cell edge and due to the frequenthandovers, handover failure rates could increase, thereby impactingoverall mobility performance.

Further, interference issues exist between the high power and low powercells. To remove interference, one deployment could be that the smallcells use a different frequency layer from the macro cells. For example,the macro cells may use a 700 Mhz frequency band while small cells use a3.5 Ghz frequency band. However this is merely an example. Suchdeployment can be referred to as an inter-site carrier aggregation (CA)based scheme. In accordance with this deployment, interference issuesmay be relieved at least between the macro cells and the small cells.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure will be better understood with reference to thedrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example heterogeneous network;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing communication to a user equipment in amacro cell but close to a closed subscriber group cell the userequipment is not a member of;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing communication to a user equipment in apico cell but close to a the pico cell edge;

FIG. 4 is block diagram showing almost blank subframes on a macro cell;

FIG. 5 is a plot showing signal strength of a source and target cell andproviding a handover region;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing example control and user planecommunications between a user equipment, a macro cell and a small cell;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example user equipment campingscheme in which system information is provided from the macro cell;

FIG. 8 is a process diagram of an example process for determining whichcell a user equipment can camp on;

FIG. 9 is a data flow diagram showing an example assisted serving celladdition procedure;

FIG. 10 is a data flow diagram showing an example assisted serving cellactivation and deactivation due to user equipment mobility;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing discontinuous receptionconfigurations for a macro cell and assisted serving cell;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing an example of signaling for a macrocell flowing through a small cell;

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing an example of delayed physicaldownlink shared channel transmissions using cross carrier scheduling;

FIG. 14 is an example data flow diagram showing uplink timing alignmentwith a small cell;

FIG. 15 is an example data flow diagram showing uplink timing alignmentusing user equipment initiated random access in an assisted cell;

FIG. 16 is an example user plane protocol stack between a UE and anassisted serving cell;

FIG. 17 is an example control plane protocol stack between a UE, a macrocell and an assisted serving cell;

FIG. 18 is a further example control plane protocol stack between a UE,a macro cell and an assisted serving cell;

FIG. 19 is an example user plane protocol stack between a UE and anassisted serving cell where the assisted serving cell has no S1interface;

FIG. 20 is an example control plane protocol stack between a UE and amacro cell where an assisted serving cell has no S1 interface;

FIG. 21 is an example user plane protocol stack between a UE, anassisted serving cell and a macro cell, where the assisted serving cellhas no PDCP layer;

FIG. 22 is an example local radio resource control protocol between amacro cell and a layer 2 assisted serving cell having no S1 interface;

FIG. 23 is an example block diagram of downlink/uplink HARQ signalingbetween a macro cell and a UE;

FIG. 24 is an example block diagram showing synchronous operations andHARQ process assignments between a macro cell, UE and a small cell;

FIG. 25 is a simplified block diagram of an example network element; and

FIG. 26 is a block diagram of an example user equipment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure provides a method at a user equipment comprising:providing uplink control information to a macro cell utilizing dedicatedradio resource control signaling.

The present disclosure further provides a user equipment comprising: aprocessor; and a communications subsystem, wherein the user equipment isconfigured to: provide uplink control information to a macro cellutilizing dedicated radio resource control signaling.

The present disclosure further provides a method at a user equipmentcomprising: forwarding uplink control information for a macro celloperating on a second frequency through an assisted serving celloperating on a first frequency.

The present disclosure further provides a user equipment comprising aprocessor; and a communications subsystem, wherein the user equipment isconfigured to: forwarding uplink control information for a macro celloperating on a second frequency through an assisted serving celloperating on a first frequency.

The present disclosure further provides a method at an assisted servingcell operating on a first frequency and communicating with a macro celloperating on a second frequency, the method comprising: receiving uplinkcontrol information for the macro cell; and relaying the uplink controlinformation to the macro cell.

The present disclosure further provides an assisted serving celloperating on a first frequency and enabled to communicate with a macrocell operating on a second frequency, the assisted serving cellcomprising: a processor; and a communications subsystem, wherein theassisted serving cell is configured to: receive uplink controlinformation for the macro cell; and relay the uplink control informationto the macro cell.

The present disclosure further provides a method at a macro celloperating on a first frequency and communicating with an assistedserving cell operating on a second frequency, the method comprising:receiving uplink control information for the macro cell in a messagerelayed from the assisted serving cell.

The present disclosure further provides a macro cell operating on afirst frequency and enabled to communicate with an assisted serving celloperating on a second frequency, the macro cell comprising: a processor;and a communications subsystem, wherein the macro cell is configured to:receive uplink control information for the macro cell in a messagerelayed from the assisted serving cell.

The present disclosure further provides a method at a user equipmentoperating in a network having a macro cell and at least one assistedserving cell, the method comprising: receiving, from the macro cell, anindication of resources used in a physical downlink shared channel(PDSCH) of the at least one assisted serving cell for physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) information of the at least one assisted servingcell; and detecting, using the indicated resources, for PDCCHinformation in the PDSCH region of the at least one assisted servingcell.

The present disclosure further provides a user equipment operating in anetwork having a macro cell and at least one assisted serving cell, theuser equipment comprising: a processor; and a communications subsystem,wherein the user equipment is configured to: receive, from the macrocell, an indication of resources used in a physical downlink sharedchannel (PDSCH) of the at least one assisted serving cell for physicaldownlink control channel (PDCCH) information of the at least oneassisted serving cell; and detect, using the indicated resources, forPDCCH information in the PDSCH region of the at least one assistedserving cell.

The present disclosure further provides a method at a macro celloperating in a network having at least one assisted serving cell, themethod comprising: providing an indication of resources used in aphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) of the at least one assistedserving cell for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) informationof the at least one assisted serving cell.

The present disclosure further provides a macro cell operating in anetwork having at least one assisted serving cell, the macro cellcomprising: a processor; and a communications subsystem, wherein themacro cell is configured to: provide an indication of resources used ina physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) of the at least one assistedserving cell for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) informationof the at least one assisted serving cell.

The present disclosure further provides a method at a user equipmentoperating in a network having a macro cell and at least one assistedserving cell, the method comprising: receiving, from a physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) of the macro cell, downlink control information(DCI) for the at least one assisted serving cell.

The present disclosure further provides a user equipment operating in anetwork having a macro cell and at least one assisted serving cell, themethod comprising: a processor; and a communications subsystem, whereinthe user equipment is configured to: receive, from a physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) of the macro cell, downlink control information(DCI) for the at least one assisted serving cell.

The present disclosure further provides a method at a macro celloperating in a network having at least one assisted serving cell, themethod comprising: sending, from a physical downlink control channel(PDCCH) of the macro cell, downlink control information (DCI) for the atleast one assisted serving cell.

The present disclosure further provides a macro cell operating in anetwork having at least one assisted serving cell, the macro cellcomprising: a processor; and a communications subsystem, wherein themacro cell is configured to: send, from a physical downlink controlchannel (PDCCH) of the macro cell, downlink control information (DCI)for the at least one assisted serving cell.

The present disclosure further provides a method at a user equipmentoperating in a network having a macro cell and at least one assistedserving cell, the user equipment having uplink data for an assistedserving cell for which timing synchronization has been lost, the methodcomprising: providing an indication to the macro cell of uplink data;and receiving a physical downlink control channel order at the userequipment from the assisted serving cell to trigger uplink timingsynchronization.

The present disclosure further provides a user equipment operating in anetwork having a macro cell and at least one assisted serving cell, theuser equipment having uplink data for an assisted serving cell for whichtiming synchronization has been lost, the user equipment comprising: aprocessor; and a communications subsystem, wherein the user equipment isconfigured to: provide an indication to the macro cell of uplink data;and receive a physical downlink control channel order at the userequipment from the assisted serving cell to trigger uplink timingsynchronization.

The present disclosure further provides a method at a macro celloperating in a network having at least one assisted serving cell, themethod comprising: receiving an indication from a user equipment havinglost timing with the at least one assisted serving cell of uplink data;and forwarding a message indicating uplink user plane data arrival tothe at least one assisted serving cell.

The present disclosure further provides a macro cell operating in anetwork having at least one assisted serving cell, the macro cellcomprising: a processor; and a communications subsystem, wherein themacro cell is configured to: receive an indication from a user equipmenthaving lost timing with the at least one assisted serving cell of uplinkdata; and forward a message indicating uplink user plane data arrival tothe at least one assisted serving cell.

The present disclosure further provides a method at an assisted servingcell operating in a network having a macro cell, the method comprising:receiving a message from the macro cell indicating uplink user planedata arrival at a user equipment for which synchronization has been lostwith the assisted serving cell; and sending a physical downlink controlchannel order to the user equipment to trigger uplink timingsynchronization.

The present disclosure further provides an assisted serving celloperating in a network having a macro cell, the assisted serving cellcomprising: a processor; and a communications subsystem, wherein theassisted serving cell is configured to: receive a message from the macrocell indicating uplink user plane data arrival at a user equipment forwhich synchronization has been lost with the assisted serving cell; andsend a physical downlink control channel order to the user equipment totrigger uplink timing synchronization.

Reference is now made to FIG. 1, which shows an example of a dense ThirdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution-Advanced(LTE-A) heterogeneous network deployment scenario. Such deployment maybe used to increase capacity and enhance coverage of a macro cell, forexample.

Capacity increase allows for more data transfer within a network. Datacapacity requirements increase significantly over time, and may requiredoubling the data capacity every year. Some forecasts see a 1000 timescapacity increase demand in cellular networks by the year 2020.

Further, coverage issues at cell edges of traditional macro cells arealways a bottleneck for both downlink and the uplink.

One possible technique to resolve coverage and capacity issues is thedeployment of a heterogeneous network where small cells such as picocells, femto cells and relays may enhance both the network throughputand the cell edge coverage. In particular, referring to FIG. 1, a macroeNB 110 has a coverage area 112.

Some UEs, shown as UEs 120, communicate directly with macro eNB 110.However, in order to offload some UEs from macro eNB 110, small cellsare introduced within macro cell coverage area 112.

In particular, in the example of FIG. 1, pico cells 130 provide smallcell coverage. Pico cells 130 may be located near the cell edge or maybe located in high density or high usage areas to offload some datacapacity to the pico cells.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, pico cells 130 include a backhaul 132 suchas a fiber or microwave backhaul, for example, between macro eNB 110 andthe pico eNB. UEs 134 communicate directly with pico cells 130. Thebackhaul could be wireless or wire line.

In other cases, a relay 140 may be connected to either macro eNB 110 orto a pico eNB 130. As will be appreciated, relays provide enhancedcoverage area or enhanced throughput for UEs 146 connected to them.

In other embodiments, femto cells 150 may be located within the macrocell coverage area 112 and be connected to UEs 152.

While the present disclosure is described with regard to the Long TermEvolution (LTE) network architecture, the present disclosure is notlimited to such a network architecture and could include other networkarchitectures as well. The use of LTE is merely meant as an example.

Based on FIG. 1 above, a heterogeneous network is a network which, insome embodiments, is designed to provide uniform coverage or capacity toserve a non-uniform distribution of users and needs. It includes themacro cells and the low-power nodes such as pico cells, femto cells, andrelays. The macro cells overlay the low power nodes or small cells,sharing the same frequency or having different frequencies. Small cellsare utilized to offload capacity from macro cells, improve indoor andcell edge performance, among other functionalities. Thus, the 3^(rd)Generation Partnership Project working groups are studying heterogeneousnetworks for performance enhancement enablers in LTE-A.

In heterogeneous network deployments, inter-cell interferencecoordination (ICIC) is one consideration. To help with ICIC, time domainbased resource sharing or coordination has been adopted and referred toas enhanced ICIC (eICIC). For eICIC, the interfering node adopts anAlmost Blank Subframe (ABS) at certain points and co-ordinates this withthe interfered with cells so that the interfered with cells may providevital information to UEs connected to the cells during the Almost BlankSubframe in order to avoid interference from the interfering cell forsuch information.

There are two main deployment scenarios where eICIC is utilized. Thefirst is a Closed Subscriber Group (Femto cell) scenario. In this case,a dominant interference condition may happen when non-member users arein close proximity to the Closed Subscriber Group Cell. Reference is nowmade to FIG. 2.

As seen in FIG. 2, a macro eNB 210 includes a coverage area 212.Similarly, a CSG eNB 220 has a coverage area 222. A UE 230 that is not amember of the Closed Subscriber Group moves close to the CSG eNB 120 andthus receives significant interference from the CSG eNB 220.

Typically, Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) reception at anon-member UE 230 is severely interfered with by the downlinktransmissions from the CSG eNB 220 to its member UEs. Interference toPDCCH reception of the macro eNB 210 for non-member UEs has adetrimental impact on both the uplink and downlink data transfer betweenthe UE 230 and the macro eNB 210.

Additionally, other downlink control channels and reference signals,from both the macro cell and neighbor cells, that may be used for cellmeasurements and radio link monitoring are also interfered with by thedownlink transmission from the CSG eNB 220 to its member UEs.

Depending on the network deployment and strategy, it may not be possibleto divert the users suffering from inter-cell interference to anotherEvolved-Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) carrier or otherRadio Access Technology (RAT). In this case, time domain ICIC may beused to allow such non-member UEs to remain served by the macro eNB 210on the same frequency layer. In this case, interference may be mitigatedby the CSG eNB 220 utilizing an ABS to protect some of the correspondingmacro cell's subframes from interference.

A non-member UE 130 may be signaled to utilize the protected resourcesfor radio resource measurements (RRM), radio link monitoring (RLM) andChannel State Information (CSI) measurements for the serving cell,allowing the UE to continue to be served by the macro cell underotherwise strong interference from the CSG cell.

A second deployment scenario that eICIC may be utilized with isdescribed below with regard to FIG. 3.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3, a macro eNB 310 has a coverage area 312. Apico eNB 320 has a coverage area 322. A UE 330 is connected to pico eNB320 but is close to the pico cell edge.

In the scenario of FIG. 3, time domain ICIC may be utilized for picocell users who are served in the edge of the serving pico cell. The picoUE may be still connected to the pico eNB 320 for the purpose of trafficoffloading from the macro eNB 310 to pico eNB 320. Typically, the PDCCHwould be severely interfered with by the downlink transmissions from themacro cell. In addition, other downlink control channels and referencesignals from both the pico cell and neighbor cells, which may be usedfor cell measurements and radio link monitoring, are also interfered bythe downlink transmission from the macro cell.

Time domain ICIC may be utilized to allow a UE such as UE 330 to remainserved by the pico eNB 320 at an extended range on the same frequencylayer. Such interference may be mitigated by the macro cell utilizingABS to protect the corresponding pico cell's subframes frominterference. A UE served by a pico cell uses the protected resourcesduring the macro cell ABS for radio resource measurements, radio linkmonitoring and channel state information measurements for the servingpico cell and possibly for neighboring cells.

For time domain ICIC, subframe utilization across different cells iscoordinated in time through either backhaul signaling or Over the AirManagement (OAM) configuration of the ABS patterns. The ABSs in theaggressor cell are used to protect resources in subframes in the victimcell receiving strong inter-cell interference from the aggressor cell.

ABSs are subframes with reduced transmit power, and may include notransmissions in some cases, on some of the physical channels. In otherembodiments the ABS has significantly reduced activity. The eNB ensuresbackward compatibility towards UEs by transmitting the necessary controlchannel and physical signals as well as System Information Patternsbased on ABSs signaled to the UE to restrict the UE measurements tospecific subframes, called time domain measurement resourcerestrictions. There are different patterns depending on the type ofmeasured cell, including serving and neighboring cells, and themeasurement type, including RRM, RLM, among others.

One example of an ABS patterns for a pico scenario is shown below withregard to FIG. 4. In particular, FIG. 4 shows a macro layer 410 and apico layer 420. Subframes with normal transmissions are shown with theshading at reference numeral 430 whereas subframes that are almost blanksubframes are shown with the shading at reference numeral 432.

In the example of FIG. 4, a macro eNB is the aggressor cell andconfigures and transfers the ABS patterns to the pico eNB, which is thevictim cell. The macro eNB schedules no data transmissions or low-powerdata transmissions in the ABS subframes to protect UEs served by thepico eNB at the cell edge of the pico cell.

The pico eNB may schedule transmission to and from the UEs in the cellcenter regardless of the ABS subframes because the interference from themacro cell is sufficiently low. Meanwhile the pico eNB may scheduletransmission to and from the UEs at the edge of the pico cell onlyduring the ABS subframe transmission from macro layer 410.

In particular, during the subframes marked with reference numeral 440,the pico node only schedules user equipments without excessive rangeextension, since the macro eNB is also active in these subframes.

Conversely, during the subframes marked with reference numeral 442, themacro eNB has almost blank subframes and the pico node can, in additionto UEs that are without excessive range extension, schedule users withlarge range extension offsets that would otherwise not be schedulabledue to too high interference from the macro layer.

One drawback of dense heterogeneous networks relates to mobility. Due tothe different cell types in the heterogeneous network environment,mobility situation is more complicated than in a homogeneous network.Reference is now made to FIG. 5, which shows the handover region betweenthe source cell and the target. The handover region is defined as theregion between the point of an A3 event being triggered, to the pointthat radio link quality from the source cell is not sufficient forreceiving a handover command.

In FIG. 5, the signal strength from source cell is shown by line 510 andthe signal strength from the target cell is shown by line 512. The UE isconnected to the source cell and is being transferred to a target cell.

Handover should not occur prior to a point shown by reference numeral520. The point at reference numeral 520 is designated as “A” and isdefined where the A3 event is triggered. The A3 event is triggered whenthe target power, designated as P_(target), minus the source power,designated as P_(source), is greater than or equal to the A3_offset.This is shown with equation 1 below.P _(target) −P _(source) ≧A3_offset  (1)

Handover should also not occur any later than the position shown byreference numeral 530 and designated as “B” in the example of FIG. 5. Atthe point designated by reference numeral 530 the PDCCH of the servingcell is out of coverage.

In a heterogeneous network environment where low power nodes are placedthroughout a macro-cell layout, the size of the handover region dependson the cell type of the source the target cell. Further, the size of thehandover region between a macro and a pico cell is far smaller than thesize of the handover region between a macro to macro handover.

One example of handover region size of different types of handovers isshown below with regard to Table 1, where ΔR is the size of the handoverregion. Table 1 however shows exemplary values and is not necessarilydefinitive for each handover type.

TABLE 1 An example of HO region sizes of different types of HO source →target size of HO region (unit: m) Macro→Macro ΔR = 22.5 Pico→Pico ΔR =5.75 Macro→Pico ΔR = 2.375 Pico→Macro ΔR = 7

Therefore, in order to avoid handover failure, faster handover with asmaller time-to-transition is desirable if the handover involves a smallcell.

Further, in heterogeneous networks, in order to offload traffic from themacro cells, pico cells may employ a range extension, where the UE willcommunicate with the pico cell even though the signal strength from thepico cell is weaker than that of the macro cell. As discussed above, toavoid interference from the macro cell, almost blank subframes areconfigured at the macro cell so that the UE in pico range expansion areacan communicate with the pico cell. The handover region size may alsodepend on the range extension capabilities of the source and targetcell.

Thus, in heterogeneous networks, there may be many low powered nodesco-existing with high powered nodes. To improve the capacity the densityof the small cells could be quite high. This may create issues withregard to mobility and interference.

In one proposal by the 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project workgroup,a macro cell may use a first band for communication and the small cellmay use a second band for communication. For example, the macro cell mayuse 700 Mhz while the small cells use 3.5 Ghz. However, this is notmeant to be limiting and other deployment scenarios could also beemployed. The use of two separate frequencies mitigates interferenceissues between the macro cell and small cells, but not between smallcells.

Various embodiments are provided herein to mitigate mobility andinterference issues.

In a first embodiment of the present disclosure, enhancements areprovided to camping, assisted serving cell addition or removal, anddiscontinuous reception (DRX).

In a further embodiment, enhancements to Layer 1 channels and uplinktiming alignments are provided.

In a further embodiment, assisted serving cell Layer 2 architecture andtransport channels are provided.

In a further embodiment, collaborated HARQ solutions are provided.

Each is discussed in detail below.

Enhancements to Camping, Assisted Serving Cell Addition/Removal, andDiscontinuous Reception

To mitigate mobility and interference issues, in one embodiment of thepresent disclosure the UE can have multiple serving cells at the sametime. Among these serving cells, one macro serving cell may operate inthe low frequency band such as 700 Mhz. Further, one or more smallserving cells may operate in a higher frequency band such as 3.5 Ghz.

The macro serving cell acts as the control serving cell, which at leastcontrols the mobility function for the UE, including handover, idle modemobility, among others.

The other serving cells act as the assisted serving cells and mayprovide user plane (U-plane) data communications. In this case, variousenhancements to idle mode camping, assisted serving cell addition orremoval procedures, and discontinuous reception are possible.

Reference is now made to FIG. 6, which shows an example system layouthaving a macro cell 610, a UE 620 and a small cell 630. In theembodiment of FIG. 6, control plane signaling exists between the macrocell 610 and the UE 620. Control plane (C-plane) signaling may mean thecontrol signaling between the UE and the network, such as radio resourcecontrol (RRC) mobility control signaling.

U-plane signaling occurs between the UE 620 and small cell 630. U-planesignaling may mean user data exchange between the UE and network, suchas stream video services, browsing, email exchange, among others.

In other embodiments, C-plane may mean RRC signaling radio bearersbetween the UE and network while the U-plane may mean the radio databearers between the UE and the network.

Restricted Camping in the Idle Mode

When a UE does not have an active connection to a network, the UE isconsidered to be in idle mode. In idle mode, the UE will camp on a cellto receive paging and system broadcast information from that cell.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure, idle modecamping may be restricted. Two scenarios are discussed below.

In a first scenario, the small cell is a non-standalone carrier. Thismeans that the small cell does not transmit certain cell informationsuch as synchronization signals, and is therefore associated with astandalone carrier. In a second scenario, a standalone carrier for asmall cell is discussed.

With regard to a non-standalone carrier for the small cell, the smallcell may not need to transmit a primary synchronization signal (PSS), asecondary synchronization signal (SSS), a master information block(MIB), or system information block (SIB) information. In this case, thenon-standalone small cell may rely on the macro cell to broadcast thesystem information.

Since the small cell provides no system information, the UE cannot campon the non-standalone carrier small cell. Instead, the UE always campson the macro cell. Thus, the UE only measures the reference signalreceive power (RSRP)/reference signal received quality (RSRQ) from themacro cell and performs selection or reselection for the macro cells.

However, in some cases, a non-standalone carrier of a small cell may beconfigured to transmit PSS/SSS/MIB/SIB information as well. In thiscase, a mechanism is provided herein to restrict the UE from camping onthe non-standalone carrier of the small cell.

In one embodiment, a time or frequency location of the PSS/SSS/MIBand/or system information block 1 (SIB1)/system information block 2(SIB2) for the small cells may be different from the macro cells. Inthis case, UEs that do not implement the functionality of a standardthat supports the proposed embodiment, herein referred to as legacy UEs,may not find the PSS/SSS/MIB and/or the SIB1/SIB2 transmissions from thesmall cells. UEs that support the proposed embodiments of the presentdisclosure are aware of the small cells based on the different time orfrequency location of the system information, and know not to camp onthese cells.

Thus a UE implementing the embodiment would check the time or frequencylocation of the system information received from a cell and make adetermination that the cell is a small cell or a macro cell. Thedetermination may be based on information stored at the UE, such as apredetermined or configured time or frequency location for a macro cellto send system information and if the time or frequency location for thesystem information differs from the predetermined or configured locationthen the cell is a small cell, for example.

In an alternative embodiment, the SIB may be used to indicate that thecells are “barred cells” or alternatively small cells that are not usedfor camping purposes. In this case, no UEs could camp on the cells.Paging functionality may not be provided in the small cells. The systeminformation block may provide an explicit indication that the cell is abarred cell or that camping is not allowed on the cell in someembodiments.

In a further alternative embodiment, the MIB may consist of anadditional bit to indicate whether or not the UE is allowed to camp onthe cell. A UE supporting the embodiments of the present disclosure maystart the initial camping procedure by detecting the PSS/SSS followed bythe physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH) and then the MIB.Once the additional bit is detected, the UE may withdraw the campingprocess and try to camp on another cell.

In yet a further alternative embodiment, the macro cell could indicatethat the some of the neighbor cells are small cells, and cannot be usedfor camping purposes. This could be done through SIB signalling or aparticular physical cell identity (PCI) range identification from themacro cells. For example, SIB signalling of macro cells could notify theUEs of the small cell identifiers in the coverage area of the macrocell, and may also indicate whether the small cell could be used forcamping purposes. In this case, for example, a one bit flag may be used.If the flag is set, no UEs would camp on the small cell and otherwisethe small cell could be used for camping purposes. In other cases, themere inclusion of the small cell identifier could be an indication tothe UE to not camp on the small cell. Other examples are possible.

In a further example, the identifiers of small cells could occupy acertain range of PCIs or a new set of PCIs, as signaled by the macrocell. A UE could be configured to recognize that network cells within acertain PCI range are small cells and should not be camped on.

By restricting UEs from camping on the small cells, the UE couldnormally be directed to camp on the macro cells. In this case, cellselection or reselection rates can be reduced, since the UE only triesto select or reselect macro cells rather than the numerous small cellsdetected at the UE.

Further, non-standalone carriers are normally associated with a legacycarrier such as a macro cell, which normally has a better controlchannel coverage. Thus, the UE may be better to camp on the legacycarrier.

With the above, the macro cell may also temporarily handle U-planetraffic for a UE before an assisted serving cell is added for the UE.

With regard to a standalone carrier for the small cell, such small cellstransmit system information such as PSS/SSS/MIB/SIB information and canbe used for camping purposes for certain UEs. However, in order to avoidfrequent cell selection or reselection, it may be better for the UE toonly select or reselect macro cells, since the control channel coveragefor the macro cells is normally better, especially when the macro celluses a lower frequency than the small cells.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure, a UE mayonly camp on the macro cell, even though a standalone carrier could beused for the small cell. Thus, referring to FIG. 7, a macro cell 710 anda small cell 720 exist within the coverage area 712 of macro cell 710.

Three idle mode UEs 730, 732 and 734 respectively are within thecoverage area 712. Further UEs 732 and 734 are in the coverage area 722of small cell 720.

However, since the UEs 730, 732 and 734 are in idle mode, in accordancewith the above, all of these UEs camp on macro cell 710 rather thancamping on small cell 720.

In one embodiment, all UEs implementing the embodiments of the presentdisclosure may restrict camping on small cells. In other embodimentssignaling may be used to indicate to a UE that the UE should camp onmacro cells only. Again the signaling could include any of the abovemethods for providing an indication, including using a flag withinsystem information messages or higher level signaling while the UE ispreviously connected to a macro cell, among other examples. However,these indications are only examples, and any implicit or explicitindication could be used.

If macro cells and small cells are on different frequencies, therestricted camping on a small cell may also be achieved by setting ahigh reselection priority for the macro cell frequency and a lowreselection priority for the small cell frequency.

Reference is now made to FIG. 8, which shows a simplified processdiagram for the embodiments described above. In particular, the processstarts at block 810 and proceeds to block 812 in which user equipmentreceives an indication of whether the network cell it is attempting tocamp on is a small cell or macro cell. The indication may be a systeminformation block flag or cell identifier, a system information blockfrom a macro cell restricting camping on certain small cells, a masterinformation block having a flag to indicate whether camping ispermitted, a time or frequency location for a synchronization signal,among other indications.

The process then proceeds to block 820 in which a check is made todetermine whether the cell the UE is attempting to camp on is a smallcell or a large cell. In some cases, the check at block 820 may alsodetermine whether or not camping should be allowed on a small cell. Forexample, in some cases a macro cell may allow camping on certain smallcells but not others.

If the check at block 820 determines that the network cell is a smallcell that should not be camped on the process proceeds to block 822 inwhich camping on the cell is restricted. The process then proceeds toblock 830 and ends.

Conversely, if the check at block 820 determines that the network cellcan be camped on then the process proceeds to block 824 in which campingis allowed on the network cell. The process then proceeds to block 830and ends.

Assisted Serving Cell Addition/Removal Procedures

In another aspect of the present embodiments, when the UE changes fromidle mode to connected mode, for example through downlink paging oruplink data arrival, since the UE always camps on the macro cell, the UEwill initiate the random access to the macro cell and establish an RRCconnection with the macro cell.

After the RRC connection is established with the macro cell, the macrocell may configure the UE with the inter-frequency measurements on thesmall cell frequencies to measure the surrounding small cells.

In one embodiment, the macro cell may choose not to make thismeasurement configuration if the macro cell intends to keep the UE onlyin the macro cell. For example, the loading of the macro cell may bequite low and macro cell may decide that the UE can be handled at themacro cell. Other reasons for keeping the UE on the macro cell would beapparent having regard to the present disclosure.

When the UE is configured with inter-frequency measurements to measuresmall cells, including measurement gaps and measurement periods, the UEmay then start to measure the RSRP/RSRQ of the surrounding small cells.The measurements may, for example, be in a high frequency band when thesmall cells are in the high frequency band and the macro is in the lowerfrequency band.

In one alternative, to further save a battery power on the UE, thenetwork may configure the UE to start the inter-frequency measurementsonly when it knows the UE has moved closer to the small cells.

In one embodiment, the network may also notify the UEs of the small cellidentifiers and other information for the small cells in order to saveUE processing effort.

Once the small cells are detected, they may be added as assistedservicing cells. Further, once the signal from the small cell diminishedbelow a certain threshold, the small cell may be removed as an assistedserving cell.

Reference is now made to FIG. 9, which shows an example flow diagram forassisted serving cell addition.

In FIG. 9, a UE 910 communicates with a macro serving cell 912.

Macro serving cell 912 signals to UE 910 that an inter-frequencymeasurement is required, as shown with inter-frequency measurementconfiguration message 920.

After receiving message 920, UE 910 then performs inter-frequencymeasurements. This may include for example measuring small cells, andthe measurement is shown by block 922 in the embodiment of FIG. 9. Inone embodiment the UE detects a cell 914 that may become an assistedserving cell.

UE 910 then signals a measurement report including, for example, theRSRP/RSRQ measurements back to the macro serving cell 912, as shown withmessage 930. Based on the reported RSRP/RSRQ results, the macro cellcould add one or more small cells into the assisted serving cell list.For simplicity, it is assumed with the example of FIG. 9 that only oneassisted serving cell 914 is added.

Macro serving cell 912 then sends an assisted serving cell additionpreparation message 932 to assisted serving cell 914 and in responsereceives an assisted cell addition preparation acknowledgement message934. In one embodiment, the assisted cell addition preparationacknowledgement message 934 could include radio bearer reconfigurationinformation. The macro serving cell 912 may also convey the sequencenumber status of the packet transmission to the assisted serving cell914 and perform data forwarding to the assisted serving cell 914.

The macro serving cell 912 may then signal UE 910 to add the assistedserving cell into its active cell list. This could be done with anassisted serving cell activation RRC signaling message 940 sent to UE910.

Message 920 may include the dedicated preamble and the cell-radionetwork temporary identifier (C-RNTI) for the target small cell 914 insome cases. After receiving the message, the UE 910 may perform anon-contention based random access to get uplink timing alignment withthe assisted target cell to establish a communication link.Non-contentious radio access is shown by block 950 in the embodiment ofFIG. 9.

In one embodiment, in order to enhance the connection set up procedure,during random access procedure with the assisted serving cell, theassisted serving cell 914 may direct data radio bearers, but notsignaling radio bearers, to UE 910, as shown by message 960.

In an alternative embodiment, as shown by message 962, the radio bearerreconfiguration may be sent by macro serving cell 912 to UE 910 instead.Such information may, for example, be received at macro serving cell 912from assisted serving cell 914 using message 934 over a backhaul such asan X2 interface. In one embodiment, the radio bearer reconfiguration maybe sent by macro serving cell 912 to UE 910 using message 940.

Once the radio bearer reconfiguration is received at UE 910, the UE maythen send a radio bearer reconfiguration complete message 964 to theassisted serving cell 914 and may further indicate that activation iscomplete to macro serving cell 912, as shown by message 966.

Once the macro serving cell 912 receives an activation complete message966, it may switch the user plane radio bearers from macro serving cell912 to the assisted serving cell 914 through a message to a servinggateway (S-GW)/packet data node gateway (PDN-GW) 916, as shown bymessage 970.

After this, the user plane data is exchanged between assisted servingcell 914 and the UE 910, as shown by block 972. The control plane datais exchanged between macro serving cell 912 and UE 910, as shown byblock 974.

In one alternative embodiment, in the assisted serving cell activationRRC signaling, radio bearer configurations of small cells may bedirectly included so that the random access procedure with the smallcell is mainly for uplink timing alignment purposes. Thus, after theradio bearers are set up with the small cells, data communication couldstart.

In some cases, the assisted serving cell may need to be switched andreference is now made to FIG. 10 which shows an assisted serving cellremoval procedure.

As seen in FIG. 10, a UE 1010 communicates with a macro serving cell1012. Further, a current assisted cell 1014 provides user plane data tothe UE 1010.

UE 1010 makes inter-frequency measurements for small cells, as shown byblock 1020. This may be based on receiving an inter-frequencymeasurement configuration message 1022, but may also be based on the UEmaking periodic inter-frequency measurements.

UE 1010 then sends a measurement report with the RSRP/RSRQ, for example,to macro serving cell 1012, as shown by message 1030. The message 1030may indicate that the UE is moving out of coverage assisted serving cell1014. Message 1030 may also include RSRP/RSRQ values of different smallcells.

The macro eNB 1012 may then send an assisted serving cell modificationRRC signaling message to the UE, as shown by message 1040. Message 1040may remove the current assisted serving cell and add a new assistedserving cell. Further, macro serving cell 1012 may send an assistedserving cell addition preparation message to a target assisted cell1016, as shown by message 1032 and the macro serving cell 1012 mayreceive an acknowledgement or confirmation message 1034 back. Thecurrent assisted cell 1014 may send the sequence number status of thepacket transmission to the macro serving cell 1012 first and the macroserving cell 1012 further sends the sequence number status to the targetassisted cell 1016. For data forwarding, the current assisted cell 1014may first forward the data to the macro serving cell 1012 and then themacro serving cell 1012 further forwards the data to the target assistedcell 1016. Alternatively, the sequence number status transfer and dataforwarding could be performed directly between the current assisted cell1014 and the target assisted cell 1016.

UE 1010 may then attempt a random access procedure with the new targetassisted serving cell 1016, shown by block 1050.

Further data radio bearers could then be set up with the new assistedtarget serving cell 1016. This may be based on a radio bearerreconfiguration message 1052 received from target assisted cell 1016 ora similar message 1054 received from macro serving cell 1012. The radiobearer reconfiguration of message 1054 may be received at macro servingcell 1012 over a backhaul interface such as an X2 interface and may, forexample, be provided within message 1034.

Once the radio bearer reconfiguration is complete, a message 1060 may besent from UE 1010 to target assisted cell 1016.

UE 1010 will then provide an activation complete message 1062 to macroserving cell 1012.

Macro serving cell 1012 will then send an assisted serving celldeactivation message indicating that the UE should remove the currentassisted cell 1014. The message is shown with arrow 1064 in theembodiment of FIG. 10.

In response to the receipt of message 1064, the UE 1010 will sendmessage 1066 back to macro serving cell 1012 confirming thedeactivation.

Further, the macro cell 1012 will send an assisted serving celldeactivation to current assisted cell 1014, as shown by message 1070 anda confirmation may be sent back as shown by arrow 1072.

Upon the deactivation of the current assisted cell 1014 and theactivation of target assisted cell 1016, user plane data may beexchanged between UE 1010 and target assisted cell 1016, as shown byblock 1080. Further, control plane data exchange may occur between theUE 1010 and macro serving cell 1012 as shown by block 1082.

In an alternative embodiment, the random access procedure to the newassisted serving cell may be skipped if the coverage sizes of thecurrent and the new assisted serving cells are similar and the coveragesizes of the assisted serving cells are small. In this case, the uplinktiming is similar for both small cells since there is similar path loss.

In some embodiments, the macro cell may know both small cells havesimilar uplink timing and in this case the random access may not beneeded. This could reduce the switch delay on the user plane in someembodiments.

In the embodiment of FIG. 10, the assisted serving cell activation ordeactivation is due to UE mobility. In this case, the target assistedserving cell could be added either before or after the current assistedserving cell is removed. Further, in the embodiment of FIG. 10, thetarget assisted cell is shown to be added first and the current assistedcell is then deactivated. However, in other embodiments these could bereversed.

In some cases, there may not be any other suitable small cells availablefor transfer and in this case, the macro serving cell may keep the UEfor both the user plane and the control plane communications. In thiscase, the macro serving cell may signal to the serving gateway to switchthe user plane to the macro serving cell until a subsequent time whereit may choose to add a new assisted serving cell or re-add a previousassisted serving cell.

Enhanced DRX Procedures

In a further embodiment of the present disclosure, the macro cell mayconfigure a small cell specific DRX to limit the small cell PDCCHmonitoring activities. In accordance with one embodiment, the UE mayhave two different DRX configurations that are active simultaneously.One of the DRX configurations is the macro-cell DRX configuration whichcontrols macro-cell PDCCH monitoring activity. The other DRXconfiguration is the small-cell DRX configuration which controls thesmall-cell PDCCH monitoring activity.

In one example, the two DRX configurations could complement each otherin order to make UEs only monitor one cell at any given subframe.

In another example, the two configurations could overlap so at certainsubframes the UE may need to monitor both PDCCHs. Both configurationscould be achieved by suitable configurations of the DRX parameters suchas the on-duration timer, inactivity timer, DRX cycle length, amongothers.

The two DRX operations may cooperate to further save battery resourceson the UE. For example, after a period of inactivity the UE may onlymonitor the macro cell and, if necessary, the macro cell may sendinitial PDCCH data for the small cell transmission and subsequently theUE may then monitor the small cell.

When active on the small cell, the UE could return the function for themacro cell sending the PDCCH for the UE to get control data.

Reference is now made to FIG. 11, which shows an example of multiplenon-overlapping DRX configurations.

As seen in FIG. 11, a first DRX configuration for macro serving cell1110 compliments a second DRX configuration for assisted serving cell1112. In particular, the on duration for the DRX for macro cell is shownwith arrow 1120 and the on duration for the small cell is shown witharrow 1130. In this case, the on duration for the macro cell 1120 doesnot overlap with the on duration for the small cells 1130.

For cell measurements, the UE may continue to measure the RSRP/RSRQ ofcells on both frequency bands. In other words, UE may continue tomonitor the macro cell band and the small cell band. No measurement gapsand measurement periods are needed to perform such measurements, sinceboth bands are “intra-frequencies” to the UE.

In one alternative, the control serving cell may reconfigure themeasurement entities and events when a small cell becomes an assistedserving cell for the UE. Thus, in one example, the macro cell willremove the inter-frequency measurement entities and events, but add ormodify the intra-frequency measurement entities and events for the UE,even though the small cell is on a different frequency band.

Enhancements to Layer 1 Channels and Uplink Timing Alignments

In a further, alternative embodiment, operation for both UEs and thenetwork may be simplified through the use of independent layer 1 controlchannels or data channels for each serving cell.

Macro Cell

With regard to macro cell layer 1 channels, on the downlink of the macrocell, the UE needs to monitor the PDCCH if DRX is not configured.However, since the macro serving cell may only provide control planedata communication such as mobility control information, there may beinfrequent data exchange between the macro cell and the UE. In thiscase, a macro cell specific DRX could be applied to reduce the UEbattery consumption by avoiding double decoding of the PDCCH from boththe macro cell and the small cell. Therefore, in this case the UE onlymonitors the macro cell PDCCH during the active time. Further, the macrocell specific DRX long cycles could be relatively large.

After decoding the PDCCH, the UE could receive the correspondingphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) from the macro cell. The UE mayalso receive the PCFICH and the physical HARQ indicator channel (PHICH)from the macro cell.

On the uplink of the macro cell, the UE needs to report the channelquality indicator (CQI)/precoding matrix indicator (PMI)/rank indicator(RI)/precoding type indicator (PTI) to the macro cell. The reporting maybe done periodically or aperiodically. However, due to infrequenttransmissions, aperiodical CQI/PMI/RI/PTI transmissions may be moresuitable in some embodiments.

To further improve spectrum efficiency, in a further embodiment higherlayer signaling, including RRC signaling, may be used to deliver theCQI/PMI/RI/PTI rather than the layer 1 control signalling.

In a further embodiment, if the UE is closer to the small cell, whichhas the smaller pathloss, in some instances the UE may transmit thephysical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for the macro serving cellthrough the assisted serving cell. That is, for the data that the UEintends to transmit to the macro serving cell, the UE may transmit tothe assisted serving cell and the assisted serving cell may relay thedata to the macro serving cell. In this case, data tunneling may beneeded using a backhaul interface such as an X2 interface for thetransmission of such data from the assisted serving cell to the macroserving cell.

Reference is now made to FIG. 12, which shows the reporting of data tothe macro cell utilizing the small cell. In particular, in FIG. 12, a UE1210 communicates with a small cell 1220. Further, the UE 1210 needs toprovide information or data to macro cell 1230. In this case, UE 1210sends the information or data to small cell 1220 which, through abackhaul interface shown by link 1232 then sends the data to macro cell1230. Thus, in FIG. 12, for the data that the UE needs to transmit tothe macro cell, including measurement reports, the UE may first transmitto the small cell and the small cell may then transmit to the macrocell.

In a further embodiment, the relayed data may include layer 1 controlsignalling that the UE intends to transmit to the macro cell when a fastbackhaul between the macro cell and the small cell is available.

With regard to the embodiments above, since the small cell communicateson a different frequency than the macro cell, no information will bereceived by the macro cell directly, but only through the backhaul X2interface.

Assisted Serving Cell

With regard to the assisted serving cell, enhancements may also be madeto the assisted serving cell layer 1 channels. On the downlink of theassisted serving cell, the UE may monitor the PDCCH of the assistedserving cell for downlink or uplink grants and other controlinformation. The present embodiments provide for several enhancementsover current PDCCH data received from the assisted serving cell.

In one embodiment, the PDCCH from the assisted serving cell may becarried in the PDSCH region of the small cell. In this case, themacro-serving cell may signal the resources to be used for the PDSCHregion to deliver the downlink control information (DCI) which mayinclude the number of resource blocks, the location of the resourceblocks, the number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)symbols, the start of the OFDM symbol index, the reference symbol (RS)configurations for the control region among others.

In a further embodiment, the DCI information of the assisted servingcell may be carried by the PDCCH from the macro serving cell. In thiscase, the assisted serving cell may determine the resource grant andmodulation coding scheme (MCS) information. This information may bedelivered to the macro serving cell through the X2 interface for thedownlink transmission. In this case, the UE does not need to monitor twoPDCCHs and only needs to monitor the PDCCH from the macro-serving cell.However, sufficient PDCCH regions need to be configured on themacro-serving cell to prevent control channel bottlenecks.

Further, the assisted serving cell may not need to provide the PDCCHwhich can simplify the operation of the assisted serving cell, whichthen only provides the PDSCH. However, in this case, the backhaul delaybetween the two serving cells may need to be small in order for theinformation to be exchanged efficiently.

However, even with low latency backhaul, the PDCCH grants for PDSCHtransmissions are typically in the same subframe. Therefore, in oneembodiment, when the PDCCH grant is received in subframe N from themacro serving cell, the actual PDSCH grant may be for another subframe,referred to as N+K. For example, K might equal 4 where the grant is foursubframes in the future on the assisted serving cell.

Reference is now made to FIG. 13, which shows a downlink channel from amacro serving cell 1310 and the downlink channel from an assistedserving cell 1320. In a subframe n on the macro serving cell 1310, shownwith reference numeral 1330, a PDCCH for the assisted serving cell isprovided. In this case, the relevant PDSCH is shown with referencenumeral 1332 and is for four subframes in the future from the PDCCHsubframe.

In one embodiment, a flag may be used in the PDCCH from the macro cellto indicate that the grant is for the assisted serving cell. In someembodiments the grant may also need to include identification of theassisted serving cell, for example when there are multiple configuredassisted serving cells.

In a further embodiment, the assisted serving cell may not need totransmit the PCFICH, but a PHICH may still be needed.

In a further embodiment the PHICH may also not be needed and in thiscase adaptive retransmissions in the uplink of the assisted servingcells will always apply. In other words, non-adaptive uplinkretransmissions would not exist in this case. Hence, all layer 1downlink control channels could be removed from the assisted servingcell.

Referring again to FIG. 13, if the downlink control channels areremoved, then the control regions 1340 may also be removed from theassisted serving cell 1320. The control regions 1340 could then bereplaced by the PDSCH, allowing more data throughput.

On the uplink of the assisted serving cell, layer 1 control channels maystill be needed including ACK/NACK transmissions. Other transmissionsthat may be needed on the uplink include the CQI/PMI/RI/PTItransmissions and scheduling request (SR) transmissions. The use of theuplink control channels on layer 1 may allow for more efficient use ofbattery resources on the UE since there is a smaller path loss to the UEfrom the small cell than from the large cell in some cases.

Uplink Timing Alignment

For uplink timing alignment, the UE may need to maintain two differentuplink transmission timings. One timing alignment may be needed for themacro serving cell and the other timing alignment needed for theassisted serving cell. Two different timing alignment timers (TAT) maybe needed and maintained separately. The macro serving cell willperiodically send a timing advance (TA) command to the UE to maintainthe uplink timing alignment and the same may be sent for the assistedserving cell.

If uplink timing is lost on any one of the links, the UE may need tostart the random access procedure to re-synchronize the uplink.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, only PDCCH order basedrandom access may be supported on the assisted serving cell. Thus, ifthe uplink timing is lost in the assisted serving cell, and there isdownlink data arrival, the assisted serving cell could send the PDCCHorder to the UE to trigger uplink synchronization for data exchange.

If there is uplink data arrival at the UE, the UE could first indicateto the macro serving cell through a SR transmission and/or a bufferstatus report (BSR) transmission, and then the macro serving cell couldnotify the assisted serving cell to trigger the PDCCH order for theuplink synchronization with the assisted serving cell. Data exchangewould still occur with the assisted serving cell.

Reference is now made to FIG. 14, which shows an example forre-establishing uplink timing with an assisted serving cell. As seen inFIG. 14, a UE 1410 communicates both with the macro serving cell 1412and an assisted serving cell 1414.

On the UE 1410, uplink data arrives, as shown by block 1420. In thiscase, the UE 1410 provides a message 1422 to macro serving cell 1412.Message 1422 indicates to macro serving cell 1412, through either theSR, BSR or random access (RA), that uplink user plane data has arrived.Macro serving cell 1412 then sends an uplink user plane data arrivalmessage 1424 to the assisted serving cell 1414. In one embodiment, theindication at block 1422 may indicate which assisted serving cell theuplink data is for, and provide an identifier for the serving cell ifthere are multiple assisted serving cells.

Once the assisted serving cell 1414 has received the uplink user planedata at message 1424, the assisted serving cell 1414 then sends a PDCCHorder to realign uplink timing. The message is sent to UE 1410 and isshown by arrow 1430.

Based on the receipt of message 1430, the UE 1410 may then performnon-contentious random access to the assisted serving cell in order tore-align timing, as shown by block 1440.

Once the timing is re-aligned, the assisted serving cell 1414 may send aPDCCH uplink grant message 1442 and the UE may then provide the uplinkdata transmission as shown by message 1444.

In an alternative embodiment, a UE initiated random access may also besupported in the assisted small cell. In this case, if there is anuplink data arrival, the UE could indicate to the assisted serving cellthrough UE initiated contention based random access procedures anduplink timing could also be achieved. The assisted serving cell couldthen transmit the uplink grant and the UE could perform uplink datatransmission accordingly.

Reference is now made to FIG. 15. In the embodiment of FIG. 15 a UE 1510communicates with both a macro serving cell 1512 and an assisted servingcell 1514.

At UE 1510, uplink user plane data arrives, as shown by block 1520, andthe UE then initiates a contention based random access to the assistedserving cell 1514, as shown by block 1522.

Based on the contention based RA, the assisted serving cell 1514 thensends a PDCCH uplink grant message 1530 and the UE may then send uplinkdata transmission messages, as shown by arrow 1532.

Assisted Serving Cell Layer 2 Architecture and Transport Channels

In one embodiment, when small cells have an S1 interface, the small cellis visible to the network and has its own cell identifier. The smallcell will transmit the PSS/SSS/MIB/SIB and can operate like a regularcell. In this case, the UE may receive RRC messages from both theassisted serving cell and the macro serving cell.

In accordance with one embodiment, in order to reduce UE complexity, theUE may have only one RRC connection with the macro serving cell. RRCrelated information of the assisted serving cell will be first deliveredto the macro serving cell and then the macro serving cell may transmitto the UE through the signaling radio bearer.

If the small cell does not have an S1 interface, the small cell may nothave its own cell identifier and may not transmit the PSS/SSS. There aretherefore no RRC functions in the small cell and the small cell operateslike a user plane relay point for the macro cell. In this case, a layer2 only assisted serving cell architecture is provided below. A newentity, referred to herein as a local RRC (LRRC) is provided tofacilitate layer 2 only assisted serving cell operations.

In particular, when the small is visible to the UE and has its own cellidentifier, in the RRC layer the macro serving cell controls themobility related functions such as handover functions, measurementfunctions, assisted serving cell activation/deactivation functions,macro-serving cell DRX functions, radio bearer configurations for themacro serving cell, among others. The small cell controls local radioresource management functions such as data radio bearer configurations,assisted serving cell DRX configurations, among others. The RRC of thesmall cells will not have the mobility control functions, measurementsrelated functions and paging functions in this case.

Assisted Serving Cell with S1 Interface

Reference is now made to FIG. 16. As seen in FIG. 16, the assistedserving cell has a full user plane protocol stack. In particular, a UE1610 has various protocol stack layers including a physical layer 1612,a medium access control (MAC) layer 1614, a radio link control (RLC)layer 1616 and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer 1618.

Similarly, assisted serving cell 1620 includes a protocol stack with aphysical layer 1622, a MAC layer 1624, an RLC layer 1626 and a PDCPlayer 1528.

As seen in the embodiment of FIG. 16, logically the communications occurbetween the same protocol layers between UE 1610 and assisted servingcell 1620.

Reference is now made to FIG. 17. When the assisted serving cell has anS1 interface with a mobility management entity (MME), the control planefor the assisted serving cell may be as shown with regard to FIG. 17. Inparticular, UE 1710 includes a physical layer 1712, a MAC layer 1714, anRLC layer 1716, a PDCP layer 1718, and an RRC layer 1720.

Macro serving cell 1730 includes a physical layer 1732, a MAC layer1734, an RLC layer 1736, a PDCP layer 1738 and a RRC layer 1740. RRClayer 1740 is used, in the example of FIG. 17, for mobility management,handover functions, assisted serving cell activation/deactivationfunctions, macro serving cell DRX functions, radio bearer configurationsfor the macro serving cell, among other functionality.

Similarly, assisted serving cell 1750 includes a physical layer 1752, aMAC layer 1754, an RLC layer 1756, a PDCP layer 1758 and an RRC layer1760. RRC layer 1760 may be used for data radio bearer configuration,assisted serving cell DRX configurations, among other functionality.

Thus, as seen in FIG. 17, in the control plane a UE is receiving RRCmessages from both the assisted serving cell 1750 and the macro servingcell 1730. Such RRC communications can cause UE complexity.

In order to reduce UE complexity, in one embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the UE has only one RRC connection with the macro servingcell. RRC related information of the assisted serving cell is firstdelivered to the macro serving cell through the S1 interface and thenthe macro serving cell may transmit the RRC information to the UEthrough the signaling radio bearer. In one embodiment, certain RRC“containers” may be designed to deliver the RRC related information ofthe assisted serving cell.

Reference is now made to FIG. 18, which shows an alternative controlplane to that of FIG. 17. The embodiment of FIG. 18 includes a UE 1810having a physical layer 1812, a MAC layer 1814, an RLC layer 1816, aPDCP 1818 and an RRC layer 1820.

A macro serving cell 1830 includes a physical layer 1832, a MAC layer1834, an RLC layer 1836, a PDCP layer 1838, and an RRC layer 1840. TheRRC layer 1840 is used for the same purposes as RRC layer 1740 of theembodiment of FIG. 17.

Similarly, assisted serving cell 1850 includes a physical layer 1852, aMAC layer 1854, an RLC layer 1856, a PDCP layer 1858, and an RRC layer1860. The RRC layer 1860 has the same functionality as the RRC layer1760 in the embodiment of FIG. 17.

However, contrary to the embodiment of FIG. 17, the embodiment of FIG.18 has the RRC layer 1860 of the assisted serving cell 1850communicating with RRC layer 1840 of macro serving cell 1830. Suchcommunication may be, for example, through a backhaul between the macroserving cell 1830 and assisted serving cell 1850.

The RRC layer 1840 then communicates with the RRC layer 1820 of UE 1810.

Assisted Serving Cell without S1 Interface

In a further embodiment, the assisted serving cell may not have an S1interface with an MME. If there is no S1 interface, there are no RRCfunctions on the small cell and the small cell operates like a U-planerelay point for the macro cell.

Reference is now made to FIG. 19, which shows the user plane for anassisted serving cell without an S1 interface. As seen in FIG. 19,assisted serving cell 1910 includes a physical layer 1912, MAC layer1914, RLC layer 1916 and PDCP layer 1918.

Similarly, UE 1920 includes a physical layer 1922, a MAC layer 1924, anRLC layer 1926 and a PDCP layer 1928.

Macro serving cell 1930 includes a physical layer 1932, a MAC layer1934, an RLC layer 1936 and a PDCP layer 1938.

In the embodiment of FIG. 19, the assisted serving cell 1910 provides arelay between the macro serving cell 1930 and the UE 1920. Thus, in theembodiment of FIG. 19, the macro serving cell delivers the PDCP servicedata unit (SDU) for all users that utilize the assisted serving cell1910. In the assisted serving cell, a full user plane stack is availablefor data transmission. Each user has its own PCDP SDU queues for bothuplink and downlink.

Referring to FIG. 20, the figure shows the control plane when theassisted serving cell has no S1 interface. A UE 2010 communicates withthe macro serving cell 2030. UE 2010 includes a physical layer 2012, aMAC layer 2014, an RLC layer 2016, a PDCP layer 2018 and an RRC layer2020. Similarly, macro serving cell 2030 includes a physical layer 2032,a MAC layer 2034, an RLC layer 2036, PDCP layer 2038 and an RRC layer2040.

Since the assisted serving cell has no S1 connection, the macro servingcell 2030 handles all RRC related functions, including mobility, radiobearer configuration, DRX configuration, measurement configuration,paging functionalities, among others. The assisted serving cell does nothave an RRC connection to the UE 2010.

In a further embodiment, a layer 2 only assisted serving cell isprovided. In this case, the MAC layer function may be implemented in thesmall cell. The scheduling function and HARQ function are also in thesmall cell, as is the random access function. Further, the full RLCfunction is provided in the assisted serving cell. However, in thisembodiment, the PDCP function is not found within the small cell. Inthis case, macro-serving cell delivers the PDCP protocol data unit (PDU)to the assisted serving cell and all ciphering and integrity protectionare done in the macro serving cell. The macro-serving cell configuresall RRC related configurations in the assisted serving cell through anX2 interface. Reference is now made to FIG. 21.

FIG. 21 shows a user plane protocol stack between the UE, assistedserving cell and macro serving cell. In the embodiment of FIG. 21,assisted serving cell 2110 includes a physical layer 2112, a MAC layer2114 and an RLC layer 2116. A UE 2120 includes a physical layer 2122, aMAC layer 2124, an RLC layer 2126 and a PDCP layer 2128.

Similarly, macro serving cell 2130 includes a physical layer 2132, a MACLayer 2134, a RLC layer 2136 and a PDCP layer 2138.

Thus, in accordance with the embodiment of FIG. 21, the PDCP layer 2138of the macro serving cell 2130 communicates directly with PDCP layer2128 of the UE 2120 and the assisted serving cell 2110 does not includea PDCP layer.

For the control plane, the control plane is identical in the embodimentas that of FIG. 20 above.

With the above embodiment, some limited RRC functionality may still beneeded at the small cell for radio management purposes. Thus, in afurther embodiment, a local radio resource control (LRRC) may beimplemented in the small cell.

Reference is now made to FIG. 22, where a macro serving cell 2210 has anRRC layer 2212. In this case, a macro serving cell 2210 may configurethe LRRC layer 2222 of assisted serving cell 2220 over an X2 interface.In some cases a low latency backhaul link may be used for suchconfiguration, especially with some situations with fast radioconfigurations.

An LRRC layer 2222 may have a number of functionalities. These mayinclude, but are not limited to, the following:

-   -   Random Access function for assisted serving cell    -   Radio bearer configurations (e.g., data radio bearers) for        assisted serving cell according to the instructions from the        macro-serving cells.    -   Report the resource/traffic status to the eNB such as the number        of RB used    -   Uplink timing alignment for the camped UEs        -   Generating the uplink timing offset values from the layer 1            provided estimation        -   Configuring the MAC to transmit the TA Command    -   Maintain the list of the UE IDs that utilizes the assisted        serving cell.

Thus in accordance with the above, the assisted cell has a radioresource control that provides certain functionality to UEs on anassisted serving cell without an S1 interface.

Collaborated HARQ

For hybrid automatic repeat request, one straightforward solution wouldbe to have two completely independent HARQ procedures, one for the linkbetween the macro cell and the UE and the second for the link betweenthe small cell and the UE. In this way, each link is operated separatelyand the HARQ procedures are relatively straightforward. However, themaintaining of two completely independent HARQ procedures may increasecontrol overhead and reduce the battery life of a UE.

To overcome the above, HARQ may be implemented in a hybrid fashion.Specifically, on the link between the macro cell and the UE, the datatransmission is infrequent and is mostly composed of control plane data.Thus, in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure,synchronous HARQ is applied in the downlink, meaning the HARQ processidentifier is implicitly mapped to the subframe number for the specificUE. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the synchronousbehavior is only applied to some UEs, and other UEs may still useasynchronous HARQ procedures, meaning that the HARQ process IDs are notmapped with the subframe number implicitly.

In order to simplify changes within the LTE specifications, the DCIformat may not be changed, even though for synchronous HARQ, the HARQprocess ID is not needed to be transmitted. Alternatively, the HARQprocess ID in the DCI formats for a UE that is configured withsynchronous downlink HARQ processes may be removed.

For a UE that is configured with DL synchronous HARQ process, only oneor two HARQ processes are reserved for the communication. Reference isnow made to FIG. 23 in which one HARQ process is used in the example.Specifically, as seen in FIG. 23, for the downlink there is only onereserved HARQ slot every 8 subframes, as shown by reference numeral2310. This is however meant to be an example and other configurationsfor reserved downlink subframes are possible.

There is also an associated uplink HARQ process where a reserve slot isassociated with the downlink DL HARQ slot 2310. The uplink slot is shownby reference numeral 2320. In the example of FIG. 23, the associateduplink HARQ process is 4 ms apart from the downlink process in afrequency division duplex (FDD) system.

Thus, in accordance with the example of FIG. 23, the UE may only receivesubframes n, n+8, n+16, n+24, etc. The UE may be active in theassociated uplink HARQ process, at subframes n+4, n+12, n+20, etc.

The downlink transmission only occurs in the allocated HARQ process. Inother words, the eNB only transmits data to the UE every 8 subframes.The UE will be in sleep mode during other HARQ processes. For example,the UE wakes up at subframe “n” and blindly decodes its PDCCH from themacro cell. If there is data for the UE, the UE will receive the data inthe PDSCH and then 4 ms later in the UL subframe n+4 the UE willfeedback its ACK/NACK to the macro cell.

The macro cell may schedule the UE in subframe n+8 for theretransmission if a NACK is received.

Conversely, if an ACK is received, the macro cell could schedule newdata to the UE.

In current embodiments of LTE, in a given subframe the UE may onlyreceive one UE-specific PDSCH transmission. However, due to the limitedtime slots in which the UE could receive PDSCH transmissions inaccordance with the above, in one embodiment the UE may further receivemore than one UE-specific PDSCH transmission in one subframe.

Thus, for example, in subframe n+8, the UE may receive both the grantfor the retransmission and the grant for the new data transmission. Thiscould potentially reduce the data transmission delay. In anotherexample, the UE may receive multiple grants for the new datatransmission.

Due to the multiple PDSCH transmissions to a UE in a subframe,additional uplink ACK/NACK resources may be needed. If there are twoPDSCH transmissions with each having one codeword, then a PUCCH format1b may be used with each ACK/NACK bit corresponding to one PDSCHtransmission. If more than two ACK/NACK bits are needed then PUCCHformat 1b with channel selection or PUCCH format 3 could be used.

The uplink transmission only occurs in the associated uplink HARQprocess. In other words, the UE only transmits the data to the macrocell every 8 subframes but with a 4 subframe offset from the downlinkHARQ process in FDD mode. Note in TDD mode, the offset should be K and Kmay dynamically change according to different TDD configurations. Forexample, if the UE has data to send in the uplink and indicates to themacro cell by either the random access, the SR channel or BSR, the macrocell transmits the UL grant in the PDCCH region of subframe n. The UEthen transmits its data in the uplink subframe n+4. In the downlinksubframe n+8, in the case of non-adaptive transmission, the UE will wakeup to receive the ACK/NACK from the macro cell to determine whether thedata is received or not and perform the corresponding non-adaptiveretransmissions on the uplink subframe n+12. In the case of adaptiveretransmissions, the UE receives a retransmission grant and performs theretransmission in the uplink subframe n+12.

In a further embodiment, the PCFICH and/or the PHICH may not be neededfor the macro cell. Specifically, if most of the traffic from the macrocell is control plane data and therefore does not have not have burstycharacteristics, dynamic adaptation of the PDCCH region at a subframelevel may not be necessary. The present disclosure provides that thePDCCH of the macro cell may be pre-configured or semi-staticallyconfigured through SIB signalling or RRC dedicated signalling.

The macro cell may signal a UE, indicating whether the downlinksynchronous HARQ is configured. If configured, the macro cell needs tofurther signal to the UE about the number of HARQ processes to be usedfor the downlink and the details of the HARQ processes such as the HARQprocess IDs.

In one alternative, the associated uplink HARQ process could also beimplicitly derived from the downlink HARQ process.

In the time division duplex (TDD) case, a mapping table of thedownlink/uplink HARQ process may be pre-determined in the standards orthe macro cell may signal to the UE that the downlink subframes that theUE needs to monitor.

If transmissions of the macro cell system information are not in thedownlink subframes that the UE needs to monitor, dedicated RRCsignalling can be used to deliver the system information to the UE.

On the link between the small cell and the UE, user-plane data isexchanged. Due to the large amount of data and bursty characteristics ofthis data, asynchronous HARQ may be a suitable choice while the uplinkcould provide for a synchronous HARQ. In an alternative embodiment,similar synchronous HARQ may be applied to the downlink as well and themacro cell may signal to the UE the number of HARQ processes used forthe link between the small cell and the UE. Reference is now made toFIG. 24.

As seen in FIG. 24, the UE will receive or transmit data to the macrocell on one allocated HARQ process, as shown by reference numeral 2410in the downlink and by reference numeral 2412 in the uplink.

For the small cell, the UE will receive or transmit data to the smallcell in 5 allocated HARQ processes in the example of FIG. 24. Theexchange of data with the small cell is shown with reference numeral2420 in the downlink and reference numeral 2422 in the uplink.

Idle frames are shown with reference numeral 2430.

The above example of FIG. 24 assumes that the macro cell and small celloperate in a synchronous manner. In the example of FIG. 24, in a givensubframe the UE will receive or transmit data from or to only one cell.In other words, in a given subframe the UE will receive on onefrequency. This may simplify the UE implementation as well as saving UEbattery power.

For unallocated HARQ processes, the UE could go to an idle radio state,thereby saving the battery resources.

When the UE needs to receive system information, the UE may receive thesystem information regardless of the HARQ process allocation. In anotheralternative, the macro cell may include the system informationtransmission during the allocated HARQ process, for example, viadedicated control signaling.

The macro cell signals the HARQ process allocation to the UE for boththe macro cell and the small cell. The allocation could besemi-statically updated from time to time based on traffic conditions.In one extreme case, the macro cell may allocate no HARQ processesbetween the small cell and the UE, which means that there is no userplane data communication on the link. The HARQ process allocation couldoverlap or be non-overlapped in some embodiments.

The macro cells and small cells or assisted serving cells may beimplemented using any network element. A simplified network element isshown with regard to FIG. 25.

In FIG. 25, network element 2510 includes a processor 2520 and acommunications subsystem 2530, where the processor 2520 andcommunications subsystem 2530 cooperate to perform the methods describedabove.

Further, the above may be implemented by any UE. One exemplary device isdescribed below with regard to FIG. 26.

UE 2600 is typically a two-way wireless communication device havingvoice and data communication capabilities. UE 2600 generally has thecapability to communicate with other computer systems. Depending on theexact functionality provided, the UE may be referred to as a datamessaging device, a two-way pager, a wireless e-mail device, a cellulartelephone with data messaging capabilities, a wireless Internetappliance, a wireless device, a mobile device, or a data communicationdevice, as examples.

Where UE 2600 is enabled for two-way communication, it may incorporate acommunication subsystem 2611, including both a receiver 2612 and atransmitter 2614, as well as associated components such as one or moreantenna elements 2616 and 2618, local oscillators (LOs) 2613, and aprocessing module such as a digital signal processor (DSP) 2620. As willbe apparent to those skilled in the field of communications, theparticular design of the communication subsystem 2611 will be dependentupon the communication network in which the device is intended tooperate. The radio frequency front end of communication subsystem 2611can be any of the embodiments described above.

Network access requirements will also vary depending upon the type ofnetwork 2619. In some networks network access is associated with asubscriber or user of UE 2600. A UE may require a removable useridentity module (RUIM) or a subscriber identity module (SIM) card inorder to operate on a network. The SIM/RUIM interface 2644 is normallysimilar to a card-slot into which a SIM/RUIM card can be inserted andejected. The SIM/RUIM card can have memory and hold many keyconfigurations 2651, and other information 2653 such as identification,and subscriber related information.

When required network registration or activation procedures have beencompleted, UE 2600 may send and receive communication signals over thenetwork 2619. As illustrated in FIG. 26, network 2619 can consist ofmultiple base stations communicating with the UE. These can include basestations for macro cells and assisted serving cells or small cells inaccordance with the embodiments described above.

Signals received by antenna 2616 through communication network 2619 areinput to receiver 2612, which may perform such common receiver functionsas signal amplification, frequency down conversion, filtering, channelselection and the like. A/D conversion of a received signal allows morecomplex communication functions such as demodulation and decoding to beperformed in the DSP 2620. In a similar manner, signals to betransmitted are processed, including modulation and encoding forexample, by DSP 2620 and input to transmitter 2614 for digital to analogconversion, frequency up conversion, filtering, amplification andtransmission over the communication network 2619 via antenna 2618. DSP2620 not only processes communication signals, but also provides forreceiver and transmitter control. For example, the gains applied tocommunication signals in receiver 2612 and transmitter 2614 may beadaptively controlled through automatic gain control algorithmsimplemented in DSP 2620.

UE 2600 generally includes a processor 2638 which controls the overalloperation of the device. Communication functions, including data andvoice communications, are performed through communication subsystem2611. Processor 2638 also interacts with further device subsystems suchas the display 2622, flash memory 2624, random access memory (RAM) 2626,auxiliary input/output (I/O) subsystems 2628, serial port 2630, one ormore keyboards or keypads 2632, speaker 2634, microphone 2636, othercommunication subsystem 2640 such as a short-range communicationssubsystem and any other device subsystems generally designated as 2642.Serial port 2630 could include a USB port or other port known to thosein the art.

Some of the subsystems shown in FIG. 26 perform communication-relatedfunctions, whereas other subsystems may provide “resident” or on-devicefunctions. Notably, some subsystems, such as keyboard 2632 and display2622, for example, may be used for both communication-related functions,such as entering a text message for transmission over a communicationnetwork, and device-resident functions such as a calculator or tasklist.

Operating system software used by the processor 2638 may be stored in apersistent store such as flash memory 2624, which may instead be aread-only memory (ROM) or similar storage element (not shown). Thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that the operating system, specificdevice applications, or parts thereof, may be temporarily loaded into avolatile memory such as RAM 2626. Received communication signals mayalso be stored in RAM 2626.

As shown, flash memory 2624 can be segregated into different areas forboth computer programs 2658 and program data storage 2650, 2652, 2654and 2656. These different storage types indicate that each program canallocate a portion of flash memory 2624 for their own data storagerequirements. Processor 2638, in addition to its operating systemfunctions, may enable execution of software applications on the UE. Apredetermined set of applications that control basic operations,including at least data and voice communication applications forexample, will normally be installed on UE 2600 during manufacturing.Other applications could be installed subsequently or dynamically.

Applications and software may be stored on any computer readable storagemedium. The computer readable storage medium may be a tangible or intransitory/non-transitory medium such as optical (e.g., CD, DVD, etc.),magnetic (e.g., tape) or other memory known in the art.

One software application may be a personal information manager (PIM)application having the ability to organize and manage data itemsrelating to the user of the UE such as, but not limited to, e-mail,calendar events, voice mails, appointments, and task items. Naturally,one or more memory stores would be available on the UE to facilitatestorage of PIM data items. Such PIM application may have the ability tosend and receive data items, via the wireless network 2619. Furtherapplications may also be loaded onto the UE 2600 through the network2619, an auxiliary I/O subsystem 2628, serial port 2630, short-rangecommunications subsystem 2640 or any other suitable subsystem 2642, andinstalled by a user in the RAM 2626 or a non-volatile store (not shown)for execution by the processor 2638. Such flexibility in applicationinstallation increases the functionality of the device and may provideenhanced on-device functions, communication-related functions, or both.For example, secure communication applications may enable electroniccommerce functions and other such financial transactions to be performedusing the UE 2600.

In a data communication mode, a received signal such as a text messageor web page download will be processed by the communication subsystem2611 and input to the processor 2638, which may further process thereceived signal for output to the display 2622, or alternatively to anauxiliary I/O device 2628.

A user of UE 2600 may also compose data items such as email messages forexample, using the keyboard 2632, which may be a complete alphanumerickeyboard or telephone-type keypad, among others, in conjunction with thedisplay 2622 and possibly an auxiliary I/O device 2628. Such composeditems may then be transmitted over a communication network through thecommunication subsystem 2611.

For voice communications, overall operation of UE 2600 is similar,except that received signals would typically be output to a speaker 2634and signals for transmission would be generated by a microphone 2636.Alternative voice or audio I/O subsystems, such as a voice messagerecording subsystem, may also be implemented on UE 2600. Although voiceor audio signal output is generally accomplished primarily through thespeaker 2634, display 2622 may also be used to provide an indication ofthe identity of a calling party, the duration of a voice call, or othervoice call related information for example.

Serial port 2630 in FIG. 26 would normally be implemented in a personaldigital assistant (PDA)-type UE for which synchronization with a user'sdesktop computer (not shown) may be desirable, but is an optional devicecomponent. Such a port 2630 would enable a user to set preferencesthrough an external device or software application and would extend thecapabilities of UE 2600 by providing for information or softwaredownloads to UE 2600 other than through a wireless communicationnetwork. The alternate download path may for example be used to load anencryption key onto the device through a direct and thus reliable andtrusted connection to thereby enable secure device communication. Aswill be appreciated by those skilled in the art, serial port 2630 canfurther be used to connect the UE to a computer to act as a modem.

Other communications subsystems 2640, such as a short-rangecommunications subsystem, is a further optional component which mayprovide for communication between UE 2600 and different systems ordevices, which need not necessarily be similar devices. For example, thesubsystem 2640 may include an infrared device and associated circuitsand components or a Bluetooth™ communication module to provide forcommunication with similarly enabled systems and devices. Subsystem 2640may further include non-cellular communications such as WiFi, WiMAX, ornear field communications (NFC).

The embodiments described herein are examples of structures, systems ormethods having elements corresponding to elements of the techniques ofthis application. This written description may enable those skilled inthe art to make and use embodiments having alternative elements thatlikewise correspond to the elements of the techniques of thisapplication. The intended scope of the techniques of this applicationthus includes other structures, systems or methods that do not differfrom the techniques of this application as described herein, and furtherincludes other structures, systems or methods with insubstantialdifferences from the techniques of this application as described herein.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method at a user equipment operating in anetwork having a macro cell and at least one assisted serving cell, themethod comprising: receiving, from a physical downlink control channel(PDCCH) of the macro cell in a first subframe, downlink controlinformation (DCI) for the at least one assisted serving cell, thedownlink control information being for a future downlink subframedifferent from the first subframe on the at least one assisted servingcell, wherein the user equipment is served by both the macro cell andthe at least one assisted serving cell.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the future subframe is a predetermined number of subframes aheadof the first subframe.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein thepredetermined number of subframes is four.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the DCI is signaled as being for at least one assisted servingcell using a flag.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the DCI is signaledalong with an identifier for at least one assisted serving cell.
 6. Auser equipment operating in a network having a macro cell and at leastone assisted serving cell, the user equipment comprising: a processor;and a communications subsystem, wherein the user equipment is configuredto: receive, from a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of themacro cell in a first subframe, downlink control information (DCI) forthe at least one assisted serving cell, the downlink control informationbeing for a future downlink subframe different from the first subframeon the at least one assisted serving cell, wherein the user equipment isserved by both the macro cell and the at least one assisted servingcell.
 7. The user equipment of claim 6, wherein the future subframe is apredetermined number of subframes ahead of the first subframe.
 8. Theuser equipment of claim 7, wherein the predetermined number of subframesis four.
 9. The user equipment of claim 6, wherein the DCI is signaledas being for at least one assisted serving cell using a flag.
 10. Theuser equipment of claim 6, wherein the DCI is signaled along with anidentifier for at least one assisted serving cell.
 11. A method at amacro cell operating in a network having at least one assisted servingcell, the method comprising: sending, from a physical downlink controlchannel (PDCCH) of the macro cell in a first subframe, downlink controlinformation (DCI) for the at least one assisted serving cell, thedownlink control information being for a future downlink subframedifferent from the first subframe on the at least one assisted servingcell, wherein the macro cell serves the user equipment along with the atleast one assisted serving cell.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein thefuture subframe is a predetermined number of subframes ahead of thefirst subframe.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the predeterminednumber of subframes is four.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the DCIis signaled as being for at least one assisted serving cell using aflag.
 15. The method of claim 11, wherein the DCI is signaled along withan identifier for at least one assisted serving cell.
 16. A macro cellbase station operating in a network having at least one assisted servingcell, the macro cell base station comprising: a processor; and acommunications subsystem, wherein the macro cell base station isconfigured to: send, from a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) ofthe macro cell in a first subframe, downlink control information (DCI)for the at least one assisted serving cell, the downlink controlinformation being for a future downlink subframe different from thefirst subframe on the at least one assisted serving cell, wherein themacro cell serves the user equipment along with the at least oneassisted serving cell.
 17. The macro cell base station of claim 16,wherein the future subframe is a predetermined number of subframes aheadof the first subframe.
 18. The macro cell base station of claim 17,wherein the predetermined number of subframes is four.
 19. The macrocell base station of claim 16, wherein the DCI is signaled as being forat least one assisted serving cell using a flag.
 20. The macro cell basestation of claim 16, wherein the DCI is signaled along with anidentifier for at least one assisted serving cell.